RocketReviews.com - Semroc - Tau Zero (KN-2)

Brief:
This is a small Sci-Fi looking model with forward swept fins, a ring fin and a bulging nose cone.

After attaching the three inner fins, the ring fin is fit over them and glued onto their outer edges. My inner fins were just not quite long enough for this to work well. I had not sanded them too much. In fact I really just deburred them and did not even sand off all of the laser burns. For this reason I used epoxy rather than carpenter's glue to attach the ring and held it in place manually while the epoxy set. Since carpenter's glue shrinks as it cures I thought it would shrink out of the gap and leave a weak joint.

It was a small joy that the kit came with its own Q-tip for applying the glue for the thrust ring. It meant I didn't have to go look for something to spread the glue. They get a brownie point for that.

Finishing:
The instructions point out what is probably the most important thing about finishing this rocket. You really need to paint under the ring before you glue it on. I did this and colored the inside of the ring itself as well. The paint scheme calls for flat black. Rather than paint this I colored it with a black magic marker and it came out great. It smelled for days, though. I chose the "Alternate Paint Scheme" from the instructions. I like the fact that they gave us two suggested paint schemes.

Flight:
I flew it on all three recommended motors. The flights were all stable and straight. The engine hook takes one headache out of prepping and it is nice to see that they gave us one even though this is a sort of minimum diameter kit.

On one flight it ejected to motor casing in spite of the hook being engaged. I have not figured this out yet.

Recovery:
The supplied streamer was totally inadequate for recovery of this rocket. It is a small rocket, but the large solid balsa nose cone, the huge screw eye and the large ring fin all add significant mass. My rocket lost one of its "laser guns" on the first landing and a whole fin on the third. I did not measure the descent rate, but it was faster than I like to see for safety.

It also suffered rebound damage from the elastic snapping the nose cone back at the body tube at ejection. This may be due to a batch of motors with overly energetic ejection charges that I have been seeing lately.

Summary:
This is a very good looking sporty Sci-Fi rocket. It was disappointing to see a nice rocket like this with small parts sticking off of it come screaming down to earth on an inadequate streamer. I really like this kit. Now that I am done evaluating it, mine will be packing a chute from now on.

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
1990-08-29	Howard Smart's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-4	-	NC separation due to failure of the elastic. No damage. Love the sand at Fiesta Island!
2006-06-01	Jay Goemmer's Semroc Tau Zero	A8-3	300 feet	Maiden flight of this previously untested design.Forgot to friction-fit motor with masking...
2006-06-25	Bill Eichelberger's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-6	-	Great first flight, but the guy on the button hit it too early.Missed the picture.
2006-06-25	Bill Eichelberger's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-7	-	RIPPED!!!And recovered almost in the same spot as the B6-6 flight despite the added altitude.(Got...
2006-07-15	Jay Goemmer's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-5	30 feet	Cartwheeled off the pad, traveled 50 feet horizontally, and hit the gravel road about six feet in...
2006-07-15	Jay Goemmer's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-4	600 feet	The launch director asked if I noticed that this flight was a little less stable than the last.I...
2006-07-15	Jay Goemmer's Semroc Tau Zero	A8-3	300 feet	I remembered to tape the engine in.(Amazing how much more effective that is.)Ejection charge...
2006-08-19	Jay Goemmer's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-5	1100 feet	Partially ejected motor dragged the rocket down tail-first, and busted off an outer fin on impact....
2006-08-19	Jay Goemmer's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-5	800 feet	About 150 feet up, the rocket veered to one side. On recovery, I found didn't get the broken fin...
2006-08-19	Jay Goemmer's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-5	1100 feet	A bigger, beefier screw eye (Semroc SE-14) resolved this design's stability issues.Kicked the...
2006-09-10	Bill Eichelberger's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-4	-	Another great flight.Streamer didn't deploy, but the rocket is light enough to float down and land...
2006-10-21	Jay Goemmer's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-5	1100 feet	Arrow-straight flight, weathercocked slightly into the breeze. Landed 100 feet away from the...
2006-10-21	Jay Goemmer's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-4	500 feet	Motor decided it was a B6-2, and blew rocket into 3 separate pieces while it was still upward...
2007-06-03	Bill Eichelberger's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-5	-	Wiggled slightly as it left the pad, but a great flight and recovery.
2009-01-31	Howard Smart's Semroc Tau Zero	A8-3	-	Recovery descent too fast with stock streamer. Broke off one laser gun.
2009-01-31	Howard Smart's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-4	-	Ejected motor casing (even with engine hook). Still recovered under streamer. No additional...
2009-01-31	Howard Smart's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-5	-	Nose cone rebound damage to front of BT at ejection. Broke one fin off on landing - descent too...
2009-02-15	Chan Stevens's Semroc Tau Zero		-
2009-03-22	Jamie Martin's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-4	-
2009-03-22	Jamie Martin's Semroc Tau Zero	A8-3	-	First flight, straight and stable, came down on a 12 chute
2009-03-22	Robert Gustin's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-5	-	Beautiful flight. Nice and straight off the pad. Stable and soaring into the air.
2009-03-22	Robert Gustin's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-4	-	Very nice, stable flight. Straight up, beautiful.
2009-03-22	Robert Gustin's Semroc Tau Zero	B4-4	-	Perfect flight. Nice and straight up. Stable. Picture taken just at ignition.
2009-03-22	Robert Gustin's Semroc Tau Zero	A8-3	-	Underpowered but stable. Very low flight. 75 feet max.
2009-04-01	Tyler Jones's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-5	-	Another perfect flight! Ejection right at apogee.
2009-04-01	Tyler Jones's Semroc Tau Zero	A3-3	-	Good launch. A bit Low. A8-3 is underpowered for this rocket.
2009-04-01	Tyler Jones's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-4	-	Great flight! Perfect ejection.
2009-05-23	Peter Stanley's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-4	-
2009-05-23	Peter Stanley's Semroc Tau Zero	A8-3	-
2009-05-24	Peter Stanley's Semroc Tau Zero	A8-3	-	One fin popped off upon landing, but was easily fixed.
2010-03-06	Chan Stevens's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-4	-	Added 2 more feet of elastic, finally got a flight without nose damage.
2010-03-27	Dick Stafford's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-5	-	High flight. Lost but later found.
2010-08-21	Dick Stafford's Semroc Tau Zero	C6-5	-	Very fast and high. Again the rod was angled into the wind. recovery was 25' from the pad.
2010-10-10	Dale Marshall's Semroc Tau Zero	B6-4	-	Nice flyer and another perfect flight. No nosecone snap-back this time, and a perfect landing.
2012-03-18	Bill Eichelberger's Semroc Tau Zero	A8-3	-	Perfect flight and recovery. Nice and low, so I got to see the whole thing despite the advancing...
2012-05-26	Dick Stafford's Semroc Tau Zero	A8-3	-

Semroc - Tau Zero (KN-2)

Flight Log

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